The World Hereafter. [Ch3] And the walls came tumbling down.

>This couch is way more durable than it looks.
>Or you've lost weight that you didn't know you had before.
>Either way, it's comfy and not too small even though it is made for small ponies and not you.
>The library smells old, not pungent but rather a dry smell of parchment and candle wax.
>The light is dimmed, a few lanterns strewn across the odd table and hanging from the walls.
>She had closed the drapes to keep this little shindig in private even though you had pointed out that others had seen you around town and even entering here.
>Twilight had just shook her head and told you it was for the atmosphere as she crossed out something from a hastily made checklist she had put together.
>Then she asked you to sit down on the couch as she herself sat across the table on an armchair that the lizard had pulled out from another room before he walked into the kitchen to make a pot of tea.


>"Alright, Mr Anonymous." She rubs the quill feather across her chin as she levitates another parchment up in front of her, ready to take notes.
>"First of all. What is a human?"
>Your jimmies begin to rustle. An odd feeling you cannot describe as you lean back into the cushion of he couch.
>What would you answer her?
>She seems like the inquisitive sort. She has a telescope sticking out from one of her windows, a graph of something on a worktable and several books of scientific nature strewn across the place.
>A scientist pony?
>Oh great. Hopefully she won't be doing any experiments.
>You give her a long look before you finally decide to just roll with it.
>If she gets what she wants you'll have all the right to ask her for a map or something to let you find your way home.
"Well. We're cousins of Apes, put simply. Do you have apes around here?"
>She writes something down and nods.
>"Yes. There are monkey colonies strewn around across Equestria."
>You nod back before continuing.
"Well. Humans and apes come from the same origins. But while other ape tribes stayed in the wild, we began to move around. The harsh conditions and new predators forced us to begin developing more in the field of intelligence rather than strength and our bodies began changing to allow us to use tools."


>She's scribbling quickly to keep up with you.
"We lost most of our fur, became smarter and began developing more advanced inventions, formed communities and after many generations we've become what you see before you. A modern human."
>She writes this down and after putting a dot down she looks back up at you again.
>"Fascinating! Are all monkeys able to become as intelligent?"
>You shrug.
"No idea, to be honest. I think the reason why humans are different from our other cousins is because we had no choice. They stayed in the wild and became better at surviving there while we adapted to the world as a whole."
>She puts the parchment down and grabs another.
>"Alright. Now, from your clothes and Rarity's professional opinion of their design I'm assuming humans are aesthetically inclined?"
>Twilight waves the quill feather towards your clothes and awaits your response.
"Well, yeah sure. We've been practicing art and the finer crafts from the time we left the wilds. From painting what we saw on cave walls to making clay figurines. Then as our inventions allowed us to we began writing epic tales, perform theater, forge musicals with instruments and song. We even began making movies and video games once the technology allowed us to."


>She writes and writes, then she suddenly stops and looks up at you with a burning curiosity.
>"Movies and video games? what are those?"
>You stop for a bit then you realize that by the look of things around here they probably don't have technology that advanced yet.
"Well, movies are like plays that are recorded on a machine that takes a bunch of pictures in rapid succession and then plays them back on a screen. Video games.. well it's like a box that creates a movie, but you control one of the fictional actors created by the one who made the box."
>She looks at you like you just told her that her hair.. or rather her mane was made out of cheese.
>"Well... movies sounds like something you could do with a camera fast enough. But-"
>You raise your hand quickly to stop her.
"Let me stop you right there. It's way too complicated and even I don't know how they do it. I know the general idea, but unless you learn almost the complete history of computer technology you wouldn't know what half the things I'd mention were and I really don't know much of it anyway."
>She raises an eyebrow.
>"What's a computer?"
>You facepalm on the inside, groaning like a zombie.
"A box that does your calculations for you. It can do a  lot of things really quickly. Listen.. I think I could give you the name of a few books you could read on the subject another time. If it's alright with you I'd rather keep the questions to more general things."
>She lights up considerably at the prospect of getting her han-hooves on some books on unknown human inventions and nods quickly.
>"O-of course! Well, I only have a few more."

>A "few" more turns out to be a load of questions about human society.
>She seems to think you are being overly dramatic about the conflicts.
>You make a few examples, excluding world wars and religions atrocities.
>She seems to find it hard to believe but eases up after you mention that no war or major conflict has happened for a long while.
>Humans had started to calm down after the African incident in 2016.
>Three years of no conflict at all and humans suddenly realize how retarded it all was.
>The lizard who introduced himself a bit embarrassed at his behavior earlier as Spike returns with a tray of tea.
>He is apparently a dragon.
>Well why the hell not?
>You casually sip your tea, answering her questions as plainly as you can.
>Then one comes out of the left field so hard you choke.
>"So where in the world do humans live? I mean.. we've mapped almost the whole world by now and nopony has ever found anything called "Human Land" or anything like that."


>You cough and grip your chest in shock, folding over forwards.
>Rarity who has been looking through a book with assorted jewelry on the cover drops it and gallows over to you.
>"Mr Anonymous?! What's wrong?!"
>After your lungs have regained their ability to intake air, you just stare at Twilight with no illusion of calmness.
"WHAT?!"
>Rarity hops back a bit from the volume of your voice before Twilight suddenly realizes she's probably said something wrong.
>"Oh uhm.. I mean. There's still north of Crystal mountains. Perhaps that's where you live?"
>You can't deal with this shit.
>You stand up.
"World map. Now!"
>Your expression pretty much says "I'm emotionally unstable and this monkey is gonna start throwing shit unless he gets what he wants." as you look at Twilight.
>She seems to get it perfectly as she hops from her chair, skitters over to a bookshelf and rummages through a pile of scrolls.
>Rarity sits down on the floor and looks distressed, from the situation or from her inability to do anything to calm you down, you're not sure which it is.
>Twilight returns after a few seconds with a large scroll.
>She unrolls it and sets it down on the table with the teacups holding it straight.
>You look down, the feeling of panic sets back in harder than before and as you scroll through the text of land names and the fact that the world looks nothing like Earth.
>You feel your legs buckle under you.
>Falling to you knees, you shake and shake.
>Your hands cover your face and you let out a slight whimper.
"I.. I."


>Twilight sits down on her haunches next to Rarity and looks at you with large eyes.
>You're crying. You don't want to, but there's nothing that can stop it.
>You're not on Earth.
>Every sliver of hope of getting back fell from your mind.
>You wouldn't be able to slip into your bathrobe and pink bunny slippers then have a drink.
>You wouldn't be able to log onto the net and watch some funny video to take your mind off of this whacky place.
>You wouldn't be able to shut the world away and just let yourself come loose.
>You were alone in another world.
>Your money didn't work here. Your name meant nothing. All the things that kept you from losing your shit were fucking useless.
>The tears streamed down your cheeks and onto the floor as every single fiber of the wall you'd built up crumbled down.
>Twilight and Rarity can only look on as you fall to your side, sobbing.
"I.. I wanna go home. I justwanttogohmmmmmn-"
>Slurry pleading is all you can manage as your mind begins to shut down.
>You slip into darkness once more.